Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-06-24
THE RUM POWER,
The Armageddon of the Liquor Traffic
ApprOaclling-Defiant Attitude
of the SalOOniSts.
Organized Plans Set on Foot to Defeat
Prohibition in the Various
States.
From the Toledo Blade.l

lsPe'' " .ne stru9eSie oet"eeh the ium
Power and the forces of Prohibition GER
ainly gives hone that the present imneri-
,,s and defont a+,;.,do 90 ~ So. :.
-. 49, $50 $50 ''''''u =. ~ 'Do Ao.noi -
o"' 'no prelude 10 us maj downfall and
utter destruction. The minions of the
Rum Devil were never more unwisa never
mora trronn;oa, - .,,o;u -, .' 49, ~.
"i ~ 'no.i "'ni'nas' 'n''n
now oo mtolerant are they as to deny the
right of free speech to their opponents,
81 t;ro,,., ~,
anu '.,e4ess au'oca'ss ol frohio1tlon. Inc
Prohlbltlon cause within year has fur
nished two Observation-Disclosures and North
rup-both brutally murdered because of
their energetic opposition to the rum
power; and there seems no doubt that, in
the recent shameful miscarriage of Justice
at the triul of the alleged murderer of Had
dock, at Sioux City, Iowa, the money and
the influence of the rum power was used
successfully to corrupt certain Jurors and
prevent conviction.
These lawless and murderous efforts to
combat prohibition react upon the rum
power and intensity the zeal OF it's oppo-
nents. Thoughtful men see in these crimes
the legitimate fruit of the Internal traffic in
rum, and from neutral position move
over into the Plohibitionist camp to be-
come the active allies of the movement to
crush the rum power. The war waged upon
the saloon and the maiign influences it rep
resents will be waged in a more deter
mined and relentless manner as the result
of the adoption of foul murder as a part of
the tactics of its supporters.
These two murders, within few months
rf aoo1, o4bor ,,,o,, ,r.,1l 10 4.1.a., ....I.
belief on the part of the RIM mower that
the time has come when it must make a
struggle for supreme control in State and
nation, or Weld the field and abandon the
contest with prohibition. The saloon has
SO long dominated q large class of the
community, it has for so many wears abso
lutely controlled elections, especially in
our larger towns and cities. it has so often
held the balance of power in State con-
tests, it has grown SO wealthy upon the
money wrung from the slaves Of drink,
that as natural result it has become AFRO.
CANT and intolerable. The rum power as
sumes that the privilege to sell these infer
nal beverages is one of the corner-stones
of the republic, and that any effort to pre-
vent the weak and foolish members of the
community from becoming drunkards and
running themselves physically, morally, and
financially is a blow at American liberty.
The lords of the saloon demand that they
shall be left alone, and that the life-de-
stroying and soul blasting activities of the
rum-hole shall not be interfered with.
The signs of the times all show that the
people of the nation are at last becoming
aroused to full realization of the peril in
which our free institutions stand, from the
advance of the Rum Power. Its power and
1nf1NRnca have InrraocoH s,u Jfc
hold upon the worst element in politics,
and consequently upon the conduct of pub
lie affairs, has been strengthened and con-
tirmed. The years OF effort on the part of
the people to control 1t and keep it within
bounds have shown the utter futlllty OF any
such plan. The Rum traffic is much too
profitable to those engaged therein fol
them to look with equanlmity upon any
such etfolts, or to yield obedience to the
dictates of law. Men whose sole business
in life is to ruin men. body and soul, have
no scruple in defying all law, human OF
divine. They are willing to barter then
souls for gold, even if the latter be stained
with the blood of murdered men, blackened
with ruin, and wet with the tears of miser-
able wives and starving children. The
Rum Power will not be regulated. 1t will
not allow itself to be controlled. These
facts are apparent to every observer; hence,
there is no course left but the complete ex-
termination of the traffic. The Rum Power
must be pulverized, that the steady march
of debauchery, ruin and murder shall be
stopped.
The present defiant attitude of the Rum
Power everywhere in the nation is due tc
the fact that it recognizes that there is a
general movement all along the line for its
determination. Every nerve is strained tc
defeat by any and all means, the efforts OF
the friends of Prohibition. In Michigan
a short time ago, the Prohibition amend.
ment was defeated by the most abominable
frauds. An immense corruption fund is
rapidly being raised to accomplish the
same result in Texas. Tens of thousands
of dollars will be spent in buving pur-
chaseable votes, in silencine the press
wherever possible, and in the accomplish.
ment of frauds at the ballot-box in the
interests of rum. The same thing will be
done in Tennessee. A leading liquor.
dealer of Chattanooga declared recent,
that the whisky interest of that State was
raising large fund to be used in cor.
ruptine voters on election day, which oc.
ours in September. A literary burear
| has also been organized by the Run
Power, which has large fund at its
command to secure the insertion in the
country newspapers of the State of let
tiers purporting to be from bona fide cor
|